And Simon built a monument over the tomb of his father and his brothers; he made it high so that it might be seen, with polished stone at the front and back.

He also erected seven pyramids, opposite one another, for his father and mother and four brothers.

they wrote to him on bronze tablets to renew with him the friendship and alliance that they had established with his brothers Judas and Jonathan.

This is a copy of the letter that the Spartans sent: “The rulers and the city of the Spartans to the high priest Simon and to the elders and the priests and the rest of the Jewish people, our brothers, greetings.

For he and his brothers and the house of his father have stood firm; they have fought and repulsed Israel’s enemies and established its freedom.”

“Since wars often occurred in the country, Simon son of Mattathias, of the clan of Joarib, and his brothers, exposed themselves to danger and resisted the enemies of their nation, in order that their sanctuary and the law might be preserved, and they brought great glory to their nation.

For he had heard that the Jews were addressed by the Romans as friends and allies and brothers and that the Romans had received the envoys of Simon with honor.

And Simon called in his two eldest sons Judas and John and said to them: “My brothers and I and my father’s house have fought the wars of Israel from our youth until this day, and things have prospered in our hands so that we have delivered Israel many times.

But someone ran ahead and reported to John at Gazara that his father and brothers had perished and that “he has sent men to kill you also.”